


Everybody's Friend

by tocasia



Series: Our Shining Past [13]
Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: AU, Gen, Paperwork, Sephiroth and Zack friendship, Stream of Consciousness, comma splice of life, everybody's friend really is, good for morale, normal office workday, probably cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-05 01:46:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11567757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tocasia/pseuds/tocasia
Summary: A normal workday for Zack.(44. peace) for Seph&Zack Friendship 100 Themes





	Everybody's Friend

Zack was in his office working hard as usual. He signed things. He stamped things. He threw away the occasional junk mail. He agreed to go to meetings; sometimes he brought the donuts. He looked over the results of inspections and joint training sessions with the Turks. He was reminded daily of Shinra's weirdness.

This was a notice that they would switch to generic grenades because the brand name ones were too expensive. What? Didn't Shinra make all of them?

Zack liked to listen to music while he worked. He had only one headphone on so he could remain aware of his surroundings. Currently he was snapping his fingers to the song he associated strongly with motorcycles.

Things were running smoothly. The new copier was _fast_. The papers it printed came out pleasantly warm.

He'd normally go bother Seph soon, but the General was visiting the labs today, something he did frequently. It had worried Zack the first few times. Professor Hojo had a fearsome reputation among the SOLDIERS who needed someone to hate for the Mako treatments and shots, and there were rumors.... Hojo was creepy, the way he walked, and his unkempt hair, and how he wore his glasses far down on his nose so he always looked at you like one of his 'precious specimens', a phrase he was way too fond of. He did a real good mad scientist impression.

But no, Seph said he went out of curiosity to talk to the scientists and observe their latest projects, because it was nostalgic for him. Zack had boggled at that. Everyone who knew anything about it imagined Sephiroth having a nightmarish childhood growing up in the lab.

Seph had dismissed it as foolishness. "Nonsense. I was truly blessed. Do you know how many thousands of gil people pay for just four year's access to the most basic laboratories and then skip classes?"

"There weren't any horrible experiments?"

Seph had said, laughing, "There was that time with the bubble gum...." Then he must've realized Zack's concern, "Nothing done to me, obviously. They're still alive, aren't they?"

Anyway, back to the present. The flower he'd bought from a girl in the slums was also still alive, in a vase, on his desk. She'd been cute. He made a mental note to buy more flowers if he saw her again. Maybe she'd be there tonight if he could finish early.

Zack's inbox had a flame decal on it so that he could get his work done faster. He might swap it out for a lightning bolt soon.

Stacks and stacks of reports clamored silently for his attention. His share was manageable thanks to the other non-SOLDIER generals and "retired" generals stationed at bases all over the world doing the non-SOLDIER paperwork. They got along well; unity in command wins wars. It made for some highly classified postcards.

Kathy, sorry, Major General Petersen at Stilva Arctic Training Camp wanted him to give a few seminars on glacier climbing and survival. He would do that. Zack liked the area around Icicle (snowboarding!) and Kathy ran a neat operation. She was so serious and formal but had a shy smile and a wild sense of humor that was good for breaking the ice.

He sent birthday wishes to Dennis, sorry, Major General Gardner at Lessaloploth Academy. He'd been a sergeant when Zack was just a recruit. Zack had never in a million years expected to outrank him, so he did his best to be a grateful student rather than some young upstart whippersnapper.

Opportunities for them to meet all together were rare. It was a security risk to put too many generals in the same place. But there was a parade coming up in Junon on the 23rd. Depending on who could make it, maybe he and Seph and Kathy and Dennis and Mary Anne (who was suddenly really keen on submarines) and Benjamin (who'd made a ton of gil with his memoirs) could go have a night on the town afterwards. Like the good old days they'd never had. Gotta start somewhere. He wrote the invitations.

He promised himself the next item would be the last for now and then he'd go to lunch.

Yeah, this was a thing that had happened. Here was the invoice from the silkscreening shop for the tshirts he'd (they'd) ordered (really only one of them had _ordered_ ) last week. Seph's shirt declared 'Good for Morale', because Zack had teased him about how he always said that. Seph had retaliated by ordering him to also get one for himself in navy blue with 'Everybody's Friend' written on it.

He'd asked what color Seph wanted, and he'd replied, "How is that even a question?"

Clearly, Seph had meant black. But Zack knew he expected to receive some other ridiculous color as a prank. Not pink, because that was already the new black. Seph would probably think up a long list of random color names that he'd read off a colored pencil box as a kid. However, Zack had anticipated that train of thought, so the shirt was... black. Seph had praised him for getting better at mindgames. They'd worn the shirts, the quotes on which were truth in advertising...

...unlike what was beneath the invoice: a magazine that promised to contain Fifty Top-Secret Tricks for Incredible Sex, but didn't mention that anywhere.

* * *

The fancy upper level cafeteria was closed. Apparently, all the registers were out of order. Tech support had arrived: a young blond woman who seemed new at her job, but not awkward. By her stance, she was no civilian. Turk trainee, most likely.

"Sorry for the inconvenience sir," the manager said to him.

"It's alright, no worries." Then he winked at the tech, who glared at him. Yikes.

Oh well. He'd drop in at Mess Hall Number 5 and see what they were feeding the regulars these days. He'd heard it called 'Mess Hell' a few times, so someone had to check that.

He tried a little bit of everything. These guys had _no idea_ what they were complaining about! This stuff was delicious.

Unlike the Great General Sephiroth, who would attract attention no matter what he wore, Zack's favorite uniform wasn't much different from the standard one. As long as the fresh recruits didn't look too closely at his insignia or notice his Mako eyes, he could blend in, at least until he inevitably got to know them. Although, at this stage they all had their heads shaved so it was tough to tell them apart. So much for blending in. He heard them talking at the far table.

"Anyone seen Andrews?"

"He ran out of money, so he had to stop playing poker."

"Better that than getting caught."

"Hey, did you hear? The competition to nickname the new drill sergeant is starting. You guys got any ideas?"

"Vlakorados? That one's classic."

"She's not that vicious, is she?"

"We do nothing but train, train, train!"

"Well, duh."

Nothing too exciting. They hadn't been here long enough to welcome Shinra's weirdness into their lives. Zack carried his empty tray to the counter and stacked it with the others.

* * *

Ah, he was almost late! He had to jog to make it to the training lesson he was supposed to watch today.

The cadets were learning how to fall properly in preparation for the various martial arts they'd be taught next. Both SOLDIERS and Turks took that course together, so these cadets had better not let SOLDIER down. So far, so good. Sergeant Roberts was a patient teacher, demonstrating dodge rolls and correcting the students as often as needed.

One of the cadets got to put his new knowledge to use when Zack clapped him on the back and accidentally knocked him over.

"Sorry buddy. Soon you'll have to be careful of that, too!" He helped him up. Kid's name was Stevens. Maybe he'd make SOLDIER someday. Zack would be cheering him on.

Now for his own exercises. An hour passed as he went through all the reps, even though he Hasted himself. He did more than just squats, you know, no matter what they said! He skipped the materia drills for now. Seeing how many Cures he could cast before he collapsed from exhaustion and had to drink an Ether was not his idea of a good time.

Who was free to spar with? He sighed. His fellow Firsts were all on missions except for Jennifer, who was on leave visiting, where was it? oh yeah, Mideel, for the birdwatching. There were always the Seconds, but Zack wasn't ready to become a full-time instructor yet. He'd have to practice on his own. Well, it could be peaceful.

None of the forms were difficult anymore. He started with the basic sword katas he'd learned as a trainee. They had numbers. The ready stance, sword held in front of him, neither raised nor lowered, then brought up overhead but not too high, then the cut downward, stopping exactly in front of where his imaginary opponent's face would be. Return the sword to its place on his back in a smooth motion. From there, the draw, fast and steady, into a wide horizontal slash. And then lift the sword slightly, stepping just so, to slash back the other way...

After the rest of those came the more advanced ones, which still had numbers. The pivots and footwork to attack and defend from different angles. Turn 45 degrees, arms like this, not too stiff, to add speed to an uppercut, or turn with a step to dodge another kind of strike and get in position for the counterattack. How to block so that instead of wasting edge and energy, the blades would slide apart in the way he chose, putting the opponent off balance for a disarm or a lethal follow-up.

Of course, there were no standard katas for the Buster Sword. He'd developed these himself. The movements echoed parts of his limit breaks, taking the size and shape of the weapon into account. Keep the flow, one stance to the next, training the muscles to remind the sword what to do. Each set more energetic than the last, now incorporating jumps and aerial flourishes, lunges quick enough to recover from if he missed his opponent, offensive combos that could shift to defensive at any moment. Here one-handed to allow him to cast, here two-handed for extra power or so that the Buster Sword could be raised as a shield against an enemy spell.

Finish strong! Victory pose!

Zack took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his brow. The sun went down. The regulars who'd gathered to watch him dispersed; they couldn't see in so little light. He wasn't alone, though.

Sephiroth said, "The 23rd in Junon? I'll be there."


End file.
